Radiotopia Welcomes The Bugle (and The West Wing Weekly)!

Radiotopia is proud to announce The Bugle as our 16th show. The podcast is the ultimate pan-global audio home of international satire. It’s a weekly eruption of comedic comment about the world’s most, and least, important news stories.

The Bugle will relaunch with it’s new season today. Since 2007, the show has been co-hosted transatlantically by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman to well over a million monthly downloads. John Oliver (The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight), has reluctantly retired after almost 300 episodes. The new season will instead see Andy Zaltzman joined by a rotating cast of the world’s leading satirists and comedians, including Wyatt Cenac and Hari Kondabolu from the US, Anuvab Pal from India, and, from the UK, Nish Kumar and Andy’s multi-podcast-award-winning sister Helen from The Allusionist.

This comes on the heels of adding The West Wing Weekly to our network just last month. Co-hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway (of Song Exploder) and acclaimed actor Joshua Malina, the podcastis an episode-by-episode discussion of the beloved serial political TV drama, TheWest Wing. These two new shows are amazing additions to the network. They align closely with our mission to support the best independent and entrepreneurial-driven talent in podcasting, and uphold top quality content across our shows. They also allow us to explore a new content direction, evolve as a network, and expand our global audience.

Radiotopia Welcomes the West Wing Weekly and The Bugle to its Award-Winning Podcast Lineup

Cambridge, MA (October 24, 2016) —PRX, the award-winning public media company, is excited to announce the addition of two new shows to Radiotopia’s podcast network lineup: The West Wing Weekly, co-hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway (of Radiotopia’s Song Exploder) and acclaimed actor Joshua Malina; and The Bugle, a satirical comedy podcast, founded by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman. The West Wing Weekly and The Bugle join Radiotopia favorites like 99% Invisible, Criminaland Millennial to bring the total number of podcasts in the network to 16.

The West Wing Weekly is an episode-by-episode discussion of the beloved serial political TV drama, TheWest Wing. Launched earlier this year, The West Wing Weekly podcast quickly built a vibrant and active fanbase as it covered season one of the television show. Season two launched on September 28th with a double episode, featuring special guest series director/exec producer Tommy Schlamme and actor Bradley Whitford, who played Josh Lyman on the show. Going far beyond television recaps, The West Wing Weekly takes a deep dive into the real-life issues explored in the television series, from gun control to veterans’ health. Guests have included West Wing stars Richard Schiff, Dulé Hill and Janel Maloney as well as real-life Washington D.C. politicians including Press Secretary Jay Carney and Senator Chris Coons, among others.

Approaching politics and news from another angle altogether is the second new Radiotopia podcast, The Bugle, whose new season launches today, October 24th. Describing itself as “the ultimate pan-global audio home of international satire,” The Bugle’s weekly podcast casts a keen eye on the most—and least—important news stories worldwide through its unique comedic lens. Launched as a podcast in October 2007, The Bugle, co-hosted transatlantically by long-term collaborators John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman, boasts over a million monthly downloads. Co-founder John Oliver (The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight), the American-based half of The Bugle, has reluctantly retired from Bugle duty after almost 300 episodes. This season, Andy Zaltzman will remain host and be joined by a rotating cast of co-hosts from the world’s leading satirists and comedians, including Wyatt Cenac and Hari Kondabolu from the US, Anuvab Pal from India, and, from the UK, Nish Kumar and Andy’s multi-podcast-award-winning sister Helen Zaltzman of Radiotopia’s The Allusionist.

“Bringing on The West Wing Weekly and The Bugle is an exciting development for Radiotopia,” said Julie Shapiro, executive producer of Radiotopia. “The decision is in keeping with our mission to support the best independent and entrepreneurial talent in podcasting, and to uphold top quality content across our shows. These shows help us expand into new areas of entertainment, political news and satire, which will ultimately help strengthen the Radiotopia brand and bring new audiences to all shows within the network.”